Oscillating fan



March 21, 1939. H KOCH 1 2,151,326

OSCILLATING FAN Filed May 25, 1937 WITNESSES: lNVENTOR w Gustav H [6 7Patented Mar. 21, 1939 PATENT OFFICE OSCILLATING FAN Gustav H. Koch,Springfield, Mass., assignor to Westinghouse Electric 8; ManufacturingCompany, East Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania ApplicationMay 25, 1937, Serial No. 144,631

9 Claims.

My invention relates to oscillating fans and more particularly to themethod of driving the oscillating mechanism of such fans.

An object of my invention is to provide an in- 5 expensive flexiblecoupling between the motor and oscillating mechanism which will beeflicient and silent in the operation thereof.

A further object or" my invention is to provide a motor resilientlymounted Within a housing and 10 flexibly coupled with the oscillatingmechanism so that the vibrations of such motor cannot be transmitted tothe housing, fan support, or oscil lating mechanism.

A further object of my invention is to provide 15 a housing which mayenclose and support the oscillating mechanism, flexible coupling anddriving motor, and which will be modern and artistic in general outwardappearance.

Other objects of my invention will be either 20 pointed out specificallyin the course of the following description of a device embodying myinvention or will be apparent from such description.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is a partial elevational and sectional view of a deviceembodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a partial plan View of the device shown in Fig. 1 and,

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line IIL-III of Fig. l.

30, Referring to the accompanying drawing, I show a fan housing II, amotor I5 resiliently mounted therein, an oscillating mechanism 25, and aflexible coupling device 35 operatively associated with the motor I5 andthe oscillating mechanism 25. 5 The housing I I may be substantiallyellipsoidal in shape as shown, and may comprise a removable uppersection I2 and a stationary bottom section I3. The upper section I2 maybe rigidly attached to the bottom section I3 in any suitable manner 40(not shown).

The motor I5 may be of any type desired and may be resiliently attachedto the lower portion I3 of the housing II and located therein. The motorI5 may have a rotor shaft I9, one end 2! 4,5 of which may extend outsidethe motor housing, and upon which the fan blades may be attached. Theother end of rotor shaft I9 may be located within the housing II and mayhave a threaded aperture 29 within the end thereof. The motor 5 I may beresiliently and rotatably mounted at one end by a pedestal I1 and capI8, and along the bottom portion thereof by means of suitable resilientmounting bushings I6 which may be of rubber. The oscillating mechanism25 is located within the housing II and it is preferred to have thehousing therefor attached to the lower portion I3. Such oscillatingmechanism 25 comprises an adjusting knob 29, an oscillating crank 2?,drive shaft 28, and suitable gearing 29 to change the 5 horizontalrotational energy of shaft 28 to the vertical rotational energy ofoscillating crank 21. The gears 29 may be located Within a well 33,which may have a removable plate 34 rigidly attached to the top thereof.The crank 21 is 10 provided with a crank pin 2'! that is connected to aconnecting rod 21a, the latter being pivotally carried by a suitablestationary portion of the fan structure such as, for example, a bracket212). As is well understood, the fan motor housing ll is pivotallycarried by the bracket so that it may oscillate.

The flexible coupling 35 may comprise a ventilating fan 30, a link 39swingably attached thereto and a crank 36 operatively associated withthe motor I5 and rotatably associated with the link 39. The ventilatingfan 30 may be rigidly attached to drive shaft 28 by means of a set screw3! and may have a plurality of fins or blades 32 located upon onesurface substantially close to the periphery thereof and an aperture 4ilocated therein. The link 39 may be composed of any suitable material;however, it is preferred that such link be composed of a fibrousmaterial or of leather. The link 39 may be swingably 30 attached to theplane surface of ventilating fan 39 by means of a suitable rivet 40'.The crank 36 may have one leg 31 thereof threaded to cooperate with thethreaded aperture 20 of the motor I9. The other leg 38 of crank 35 maybe 35 inserted through the aperture 4! located within ventilating fan 30and may be rotatably attached to the free end of link 39 in any suitablemanner.

It is, therefore, obvious that as the crank 36 is rotated about the leg31 as an axis, leg 38 will pull 40 link 39, and due to such link beingrotatably attached to leg 38 and swingably attached to ventilating fan30, it will cause the ventilating fan 39 to rotate with shaft 28 aboutthe axis thereof. Due to the leg 38 of the crank 36 being inserted 4.5through aperture 4| and rotatably associated with link 39, it is obviousthat such leg and the operatively associated link 39 may move relativeto the ventilating fan 39.

In operating a device as hereinabove described, the motor I5 may beconnected to the power supply by any suitable switching device (notshown).

As the rotor shaft I9 in motor I5 begins to rotate, the stator of themotor I5 will move or vibrate in relation to the shaft 29 of theoscillating mechanism 25 and the housing H. However, due to the flexiblecoupling 35 being interposed between and operatively associated withrotor shaft I9 and shaft 28 and the presence of the resilient bushingsl6 between the motor and housing I I, the relative movement of the motorIE will not be transmitted to the oscillating mechanism or housing ll.

As the rotor shaft l9 rotates, crank which is operatively associatedtherewith, likewise rotates about such shaft as an axis. Since the leg38 of crank 36 is operatively associated with link 39 and ventilatingfan 30, such ventilating fan will likewise rotate. However, since theleg 38 and the free end of link 39 operatively associated therewith maymove relative to the ventilating fan 30, the relative transverse andlongitudinal movements of the motor l5, rotor shaft l9 and leg 31 ofcrank 36 will not be transmitted to the ventilating fan 39. It is,therefore, to be understood that, regardless of the relative movement ofthe leg 38 of crank 36 in respect of the fan 30, such leg, through link39 and rivet 40, will transmit the rotational energy of the rotor shaftIQ of motor I5 to the ventilating fan 30 and operatively associatedoscillating mechanism 25 void of all vibrations or undesirable movementsof such motor and crank. The rotational energy of fan 30 is thentransmitted to the oscillating crank 2'! through the operativelyassociated gears 29 where such energy may be used to oscillate the fanhousing in any pre-described fashion, free from all the undesirablemovements of the motor and crank.

It is, therefore, obvious that the resiliently mounted motor willoperate any desirable fan located upon the shaft end 2| and willoscillate such fan and the housing in a pre-described orbit withouttransmitting the operating vibrations thereof directly to the housing II and the suitable support therefor or to the oscillating mechanism 25and oscillating crank 21. It is likewise obvious that, due to suchresilient mounting of the motor l5 within the housing I l and thepresence of link 39 between the crank and the oscillating mechanism,such device will be silent in the operation thereof.

Various modifications may be made in the device embodying my inventionwithout departing from the spirit and scope thereof, and I desire thatonly such limitations shall be placed thereon as are imposed by theprior art and the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In combination, a housing, a motor resiliently mounted therein and anoscillating mechanism fixed thereto, and means comprising a crankenclosed by the housing for flexibly coupling the motor to saidoscillating mechanism, said resilient mounting and flexible couplingserving to prevent transmission of motor vibrations to said mechanism.

2. In combination, a housing, a motor resiliently mounted therein, anoscillating mechanism comprising a ventilating fan attached to andlocated within said housing, and means comprising a crank and theventilating fan for flexibly coupling the motor to said oscillatingmechanism.

3. In combination, a housing, a motor resiliently mounted therein, anoscillating mechanism attached to and located within said housing, andmeans comprising a crank and a fibrous link for flexibly coupling themotor to said oscillating mechanism.

4. In combination, a housing, a motor resiliently mounted therein, anoscillating mechanism comprising a ventilating fan and a fibrous linkswingably mounted thereon, and means comprising the ventilating fan,fibrous link and a crank operatively associated with the motor androtatably attached to said link for flexibly couping the motor to saidoscillating mechanism.

5. An oscillating fan-driving mechanism comprising a housing, a motorresiliently mounted within the housing having a rotor shaft one end ofwhich terminates within the housing, a threaded aperture locatedtherein, a threaded crank operatively associated therewith, anoscillating mechanism including a ventilating fan, a link swingablyattached to said fan and rotatably attached to the free end of saidcrank, and means including said crank, link and ventilating fan forflexibly coupling the motor to said oscillating mechanism.

6. An oscillating fan-driving mechanism com prising a housing having anupper and lower section, a motor resiliently mounted within the lowersection of the housing having a rotor shaft one end of which terminateswithin the housing, a threaded aperture located therein, a threadedcrank operatively associated therewith, an oscillating mechanismincluding a ventilating fan, a link swingably attached to said fan androtatably attached to the free end of said crank, means including saidcrank, link and ventilating fan for flexibly coupling the motor to saidoscillating mechanism, and means including the upper section of saidhousing for enclosing the motor, oscillating mechanism and couplingmeans.

7. An oscillating fan-driving mechanism comprising a housing having anupper and lower section, a motor resiliently mounted within the lowersection of the housing having a rotor shaft one end of which terminateswithin the housing, a threaded aperture located therein, a threadedcrank operatively associated therewith, an oscillating mechanismincluding a drive shaft, the axis of which is substantially in line withthe axis of the rotor, a ventilating fan removably attached to saidshaft, a link swingably attached to said fan and rotatably attached tothe free end of said crank, means including said crank, link andventilating fan for flexibly coupling the motor to said oscillatingmechanism, and means.

including the upper section of said housing for enclosing the motor,oscillating mechanism and coupling means.

8. In combination, a motor having a housing therefor, means forresiliently supporting the motor within the housing, an oscillatingmechanism including a ventilating fan attached to said housing, andmeans comprising a structure rotatable with the motor shaft and said fanfor flexibly coupling said motor to said oscillating mechanism, saidlast-mentioned means being enclosed by the housing and preventing thetransmission of vibrations between the motor and the oscillatingmechanism.

9. In combination, a housing, a motor resiliently carried by the housingand having a rotatable shaft, a fan carried by the motor shaft, meansfor oscillating the motor and fan, said oscillating means including adriven shaft, and means including a crank interposed between said shaftsfor effecting a driving connection therebetween, whereby shifting of theaxes of one shaft relative to the other shaft is afforded.

GUSTAV H. KOCH.

